Where You get inspirations(melody)?

[DJ Warmonger]

Inspirations for melody? Once I get any catchy motiff, I just transpose it mangle until full melody is built. Effect may be completely random, but nonetheless finally some nice melodies emerge.

[Jafo]

Emphatically +1 to vurt!

But even Beethoven and Mozart relentlessly re-worked their melodies time and again until every note rang true; Beethoven's notebooks in particular showed that he'd rewrite things a dozen times (and that's just what he committed to notebook!). The Beatles did the same sort of thing, which is why they're so often covered. Or think of genuine folk songs -- by which I mean melodies shaped and reshaped over the centuries by hundreds of musicians, not skinny people from California with acoustic guitars and predatory managers. Guys like Bach or Coltrane have a gift for perfect melodies (maybe from many lives as musicians?), but hard work can equal it -- just, ya know, more slowly.

[Deep Purple]

never play on any instrument

I think a major part of inspiration for most people is just playing. If you don't play an instrument that's possibly a big part of your problem.

[Kamcho]

never play on any instrument

I think a major part of inspiration for most people is just playing. If you don't play an instrument that's possibly a big part of your problem.

I just see that people's which play on piano for example ... have a more possibilities and they can work faster and more effective .
So I am looking for alternative ways ,
I can play on my midi keyboard some basic covers of favourite tracks but Im too old to seriously learn play piano because my main goal is production + dj

I'm sure that even low quality tracks with good arrangement and catchy melody could be hit ... example: Tim Berg - Bromance

[debra1rlo]

*facepalm*

[trimph1]

Le Sigh....

[jancivil]

jancivil: I Just see that people which plays on piano for example, they can create faster and more effective, but in my case I prefer draw in piano roll + adding some notes from MIDI in the same time
Mainly I asked about Yours inspirations and ways to create melos

I'm inspired melodically out of a certain experience, which is about playing music and being a musician.

I didn't have a great ear to begin with. I wanted to understand what I loved in music so I would go over the record again and again and find the notes, more typically on the guitar.

But, a real eureka moment for me was there was this thing in the song Proud Mary by Creedence that baffled me. The riff in the thing was what attracted me most; it centered on a note that wasn't the center note for the verse. I had trouble replicating it with my voice, until I got it together. I checked it on the guitar (I wasn't much of a guitarist, mind you, I was around twelve and a drummer) but I knew what the thing was now. This was in the beginning of my journey, I began taking things off records all the time, all day long I learned specifically what happens on the tracks on 'Abbey Road', and a bit later [the solo in] 'Badge', and 'Little Wing' (where a friend who had a much better ear and much better command of the guitar helped me with my mistakes).

I got to where I could get around on the guitar kind of nicely from knowing these things by my ear and watching guitarists all the time. I would do what I could to get in shows for free, such as pretend I was with the group and schlep something in. Eventually I had a melodic style together, I could improvise and the things I did made sense musically, I became known for it even. Because I really the f**k cared about it and worked for it.

And I kept doing.

"I am looking for alternative ways" - what, magic? There isn't an alternative to involvement. At least you've noticed players have more possibilities.
What is your understanding of melody to be based in? Where is this assessment of yourself able to do this coming from?

For me a 'producer' is someone that understands what to do in a session, technically/engineering-wise and/or as a musician, understands the process of making a record, and they faciliate THE MUSICIANS. But now it means someone that can't be arsed to be a musician yet they're entitled to a result, a product.

You asked!

[vurt]

i got a plus 1
it was a joke, im really not known for my use of melody
not because i have anything against melody it just doesnt really fit with what i do for the most part.

i think aside from playing a live instrument, even if thst is noodling away on a midi controller, another good way to come up with melodies is playing with another person, find someone to collaberate with. sharing ideas is a great way to move forward in music.
you say youre more interested in production, do you mean the actual engineering and studio side of things? as in recording and mixing other peoples work or do you mean in the more modern way of being a lone gunman from start to finish on a piece?
if its the first then learning to work with others is essential, a basic understanding of music is also fairly essential, there are few producers of note who have no musical ability of their own, only one i can think of off the top of my head is joe meek. as much as i love joe meek's work and would rate him as a genius he is a one in a billion kind of person, its best to have the maximum amount of tools you can have in your arsenal. by tools i mean skills rather than plugins by the way.

and youre never to old to learn an instrument, never ignore the possibility of doing new things.

[funky lime]

but Im too old to seriously learn play piano because my main goal is production + dj

However old you might be, you are TOO YOUNG to make such an excuse!

I started out "producing" electronic music about 15 years ago. I used to be a trance/dnb/trip-hop/jungle kid with no instrument skills. I was severely limited in that my only instrument at the time was the drums. I could program some cool beats, but I couldn't quite get the rest to come together the way I wanted it to. At some point, I was exposed to some of the prog rock giants (Yes, Gentle Giant, King Crimson, Camel, etc.) thanks to my older brother, who was starting to really get into guitar. At some point I realized, these guys were able to write such powerful music because each individual member of a given band was a master of his or her instrument. It was inspirational to hear someone like Rick Wakeman playing his heart out on multiple keyboards simultaneously, and stuff like that made me really think about how simplistic and unevolved my own programmed keyboard parts were.

So after I fell in love with a handful of those awesome bands, my whole mindset changed and I realized I didn't want to be "penciling in" notes with a mouse anymore. Advance many years to the present: I'm no virtuoso but now I can play guitar, bass, keys, mallets, drums, and the odd wind instrument here and there. I became obsessed with playing music, started playing in bands, meeting other musicians, doing open mics, and hell, I've even gotten to tour internationally with a latin indie-pop band.

Basically, even though I was obsessed with electronic music back then, it was my exposure to the music of insanely-talented instrumentalists that ultimately inspired me to learn to play. Learning to play instruments totally changed the way I perceived music, and this new mindset helped me find inspiration to write better stuff of my own. And prog rock was only the beginning; I started to get really into jazz (Davis, Coltrane, Ellington, Monk, the usual suspects) and developed an obsession with the works of Frank Zappa. I got into music from other cultures, listening to stuff like sitar ragas and Japanese koto folk music, even the odd bit of opera. Back in high school I saw a bluegrass act (I had never heard of bluegrass before that) and was totally blown away; it was 4 or 5 guys with one microphone in the middle, and they varied their volumes by moving closer to or further away from it as needed throughout the songs... cool stuff!

For writers, I've heard it said that to write well, one must first learn to read well. This definitely applies to musicians as well. Listening to music for fun is one thing, but take some time to listen analytically as well. I used to be the kind of person to put music on in the background while I do something else. At some point, I started actively listening to music, meaning, the act of listening attentively is the main activity (I'll be honest, smoking weed has definitely helped me with this). It has gotten to the point where sometimes I don't even like putting music on in my car while I'm driving, because I'd rather be in a position where I can just close my eyes and really take it all in (now there's a quoted-out-of-context bit for you guys).

tl;dr : Listen to TONS of music that is radically different from the style you are trying to produce. You might learn something.

[jancivil]

The 'inspiration' for Seek Bromance must be to copy a type of tune that's shown to move a lot of units, practically verbatim, and then arbitrarily a typical gesture out of EDM is grafted on, which is again just totally mimicry. Yeah, hits are made this way. I don't call that 'inspired'. But unless Tim literally went out and downloaded some MIDI or sampled one a these pop records and sampled some avicii or some crap, I would guess he understands what's in that tune in order to cop it.

[Kamcho]

Perhaps I have another perception working in studio.
In my opinion and not only mine, too long working on one song began is bored.
some producers work few hours, some producers work one day , some producers working few weeks (on one song) , of course it's depends of skill and experience but in this moment I work usually 3 - 5 days on one song.
EDM is schematic than another genres music, for example (16 bar - breakdown - chorus - breakdown - drop - chorus 2 - 16 bar) - etc
Now consecrate about 8 hours per day in the studio because I mustn't go to job and school BUT these days finally come to an end and when I'll go finally to job I'll have maybe max 3 hours free time for studio.

What do I mean?

I want to best exploit the time (now, when I have all day free), so Im searching and reading articles, tutorials etc.

AND im very angry when something go wrong,spending too much time for writing ALREADY melodys of course technical producing things(mixing,mastering) and "skill the ears" working by years - i'm sure

BUT I heard that in edm not necessarily need to know extensive knowledge about Music Theory only need to basic like : scales (Dur,Moll) , chords building etc
So I'm asking about things how intrested me.

I am pleased that this subject developed into, and I would use from Yours Tips.

Thanks!

[debra1rlo]

The De Lusion river runs strong... and right next to De Nile.

[jancivil]

too long working [] bored. spending too much time for writing
some producers some producers some producers

I want to best exploit the time (now, when I have all day free), so Im searching and reading articles, tutorials etc.

Tips.

Basically you are kidding yourself in every way you can come up with. Instead of getting with an instrument, the real basis for learning music, you're reading, you're looking at tutorials, you want Tips. You don't learn how to do a thing by reading about it.
You exemplify all that's wrong with "Producers" today, the whole approach. You're in a BIG hurry to have something to show. You know, people take years and years and take music seriously as a craft, even an artform, getting their chops together. Again, where does this estimation of yourself capable of 'writing melodies' come from? You saw people that in your assessment did as little as possible and had hits anyway?

[trimph1]

I given up with trying to convince anyone of learning an instrument. That means work for quite a few anymore.

Instant gratification uber alles!!!!!

Brother...

[Roman Empire]

Hi there,

Well, you could just throw the whole thing overboard and make minimalistic techno. That usually won´t be minimalistic anymore as soon as you introduce good melodies!

But if you after all still want to make music with melodies, it really does not matter what kind of music that is - once you´re skilled in melodies, you´ll also easily figure out what´s right for the type of music you´re doing.

I consider the part of our brain that understands how to come up with a good melody dormant for most people until triggered.

I remember when I was a kid, taking guitar, xylophone and flute lessons, in a slavic way playing very plain things that I was told to play, only understanding how I had to play it together with the other kids at the right time in the song.

When at my grandfathers place, I tried to do what my grandfather did with his grandpiano. Sitting with my hands the right way and moving them around the same way as he did, but I was very well aware that it did not sound good at all.

Perhaps the xylo/flute/guitar-lessons had helped me to hear when it wasn´t sounding good? That I don´t know, but I know that some people are completely tonedef when they´re trying to be musical, but can have a great understanding of when a melody is good when listening to the music of others.

Then I started taking piano lessons when I was like 10, and within a month I had started to write my own music. Not that I knew exactly why it sounded good, but it did indeed sound light years better than when I previously played at my grandfathers piano.

My advise is that you go and get some piano lessons for 6-12 months, and then you´re already much further. I do think that there´s always more to explore , but I think that you won´t need to read much about musical theory (with which I´m actually very nerdy myself) if you wanna stick to EDM only, although there are also artists there who seem to have a deeper understand of writing good songs, but as with most modern Top 40 of today, whether it being pop or rock, sadly you won´t find many rocket scientists - anymore.

Best Regards

Roman Empire